General Milnor Roberts (USAR-Ret.) of High Frontier discussed the
upcoming House vote on H.R. 3144, the Defend America Act of 1996.
Roberts recapped the missile defense issue for participants, reminding
them that President Clinton vetoed the Defense Appropriations bill last
year because it contained funds for missile defense. Clinton cited as
his reasons: 1) there won't be any missile threat against the U.S., the
President said, for 15 years, and 2) Russia might be distressed.
However, Roberts cited the current Secretary of Defense disagreeing with
the President, saying that the U.S. is "totally vulnerable to missile
attack" right now. Roberts further described suspected Russian sales of
nuclear missile technology to Iran, the People's Republic of China's
missile advancements, and Russia's announcement that it will gladly sell
launchers for SS-25 intercontinental ballistic missiles to anyone with
sufficient cash. He also reminded participants that Russia accidently
launched a nuclear warhead 10 years ago, but fortunately, it misfired and
fell in Siberia. Roberts distributed copies of Congressional testimony
by the acting head of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense Organization
given before a House Subcommittee on June 18, which analyzes the issue in
more detail. Contact General Roberts at 703/671-4111.

OAS Vote Against the U.S., Other Cuba Issues Reviewed

Dr. Emilio-Adolfo Rivero of the New Cuba Coalition briefed participants
on

the June 4 vote by the Organization of American States (OAS)
criticizing the Helms-Burton bill (only the U.S. voted against the
resolution);

Castro's collaboration with and promotion of "guerrilla
warfare and insurgent activity throughout the hemisphere, draining
billions of dollars from already poor countries and exacerbating
difficulties in a region long beset with economic hardships";

the "downward spiral" of the Cuban economy -- even the Cuban tourist trade is
declining because tours lack even the resources to dress tour guides
appropriately (Said Rivero: "It is almost impossible to be hungry in
Cuba. Castro has achieved that.");

grants made by private U.S.
foundations to "advocate policies and develop projects aimed a
normalizing relations between the U.S. and Castro's Cuba."

Rivero called
upon Members of Congress to "consider whether U.S. interests, and those
of democracy at large, are best served by U.S. participation in the OAS.
Rivero also reported that the press is inaccurately describing the
Helms-Burton Act, which covers illegally-acquired property in Cuba.
Contact Dr. Rivero at 301/927-2167 or at [email protected]

When Two Social Constructs Fall in Love, They Shouldn't HaveMore than
1 or 2 Children, Says U.S. Delegationto UN Conference

Jim Sheehan of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) described CEI's
programs in support of "Economic freedom and environmental quality" and
distributed press releases and other background materials, and then
introduced Laurel Haskell of Concerned Women for America. Haskell then
described her participation in the United Nations Conference on Human
Settlements, commonly referred to as "Habitat II," held from June 3-14 in
Istanbul, Turkey. At the conference, Haskell said, the unofficial
position of the U.S. government was that gender is a "social construct,"
and the U.S. sought to amend the conference document to internationally
"outlaw" discrimination on the basis of sexual preference. (Haskell also
reminded participants that the U.S. government spent $800,000 on
instructions for "lesbian flirting techniques" at an earlier U.N.
conference in China.) Haskell reported that the position of the
conference was that people should not have more housing, heat or food
than is necessary to sustain life, and that rich countries should have
resources taken away from them and given to poor countries. The
conference position also was that people should be limited to one or
perhaps, at maximum, two children. Haskell said that people need to
express their concern about things like this to the Congress, which is
preoccupied with other matters. Contact Jim Sheehan at 202/331-1010 and
Laurel Haskell at 202/488-7000.

Alexey Khadyka of the Minsk-based Coalition in Defense of Democracy and
Human Rights in Belarus discussed the deteriorating human rights
situation in Belarus, and, in particular, the arrest of his father simply
for participating in pro-democracy activities. Khadyka also discussed a
June 5 pro-human rights demonstration held outside the Belarus and
Russian Embassies in Washington, and distributed a May 9 Robert Novak
column describing his father's plight. Contact Alexey Khadyka via Pete
Weyrich at 202/546-3003.

To Russia, With Cash

Amy Moritz of The National Center for Public Policy Research distributed
copies of Dr. J. Michael Waller's article in the June 1996 Reader's
Digest entitled "To Russia, With Cash." The article discusses how "the
Clinton Administration has actually helped expand Russia's nuclear
warhead stockpile"; how U.S. aid to Russia is wasted; and how Russian
"'gangster bureaucrats are rolling in riches" and a result of U.S. aid
policies. Contact Dr. Waller at 202/462-6055 or [email protected]

Alliance for American Innovation Supports Rohrbacher on Patent Issue

Bonny Stilwell of the Alliance for American Innovation discussed the
differences between two competing patent bills, H.R. 359, the Patent
Restoration Act, and H.R. 3460. Stilwell strongly supports H.R. 359.
The bills differ in that H.R. 359 continues to base the expiration date
of patents from the date the patent was granted, while H.R. 3460 bases
the expiration date on the date the patent was requested. Stilwell
distributed handouts and noted that the inventor of the MRI had to wait
15 years to get a patent. She said his patent would have been almost
worthless if the patent hadn't been based on the date of grant rather
than date of application. She also said that intellectual property today
accounts for well over 50% of all U.S. exports. Contact Bonny Stilwell
at 703/360-1173.

Progress and Difficulties in Waging a War on Drugs Recapped

Major Gil Macklin (USMC-Ret.) and Major Andy Messing (USA-Ret.) discussed
both progress and difficulties in the war on drugs. Contact Majors
Macklin and Messing at 703/836-3443.

Move of Radio Marti to Miami Questioned

Marie Ciliberti of an AFL-CIO local broadcast union described the move by
the U.S.-funded radio Marti to Cuba from Washington and expressed
concerns that Radio Marti has turned into a public relations operation
for the head of the Cuban-American National Foundation. She distributed
columns by Georgie Anne Geyer and others describing the situation.
Contact Marie Ciliberti at 301/622-0140.

U.S. Fails to Protest Persecution of Churches Overseas, Says Group

Captain Tim Hunter of State Department Watch discussed the federal
government's lack of interest in opposing the persecution of churches in
the Islamic World. Contact Captain Hunter at 202/669-5558.

Scoop is published by The National Center for Public Policy Research to
provide information about the activities of the conservative movement.
Coverage of a meeting or statement in Scoop does not imply endorsement by
The National Center for Public Policy Research. Copyright 1996 The
National Center for Public Policy Research. ###